Prince Peerless: A Fairy Folk-story Book

First edition, first impression (published in 1886 as a Christmas book, with the title page dated 1887).  268pp, with tissue-guarded frontispiece and seven further plate illustrations in text.  Page decorations and initial caps.  In brown cloth-covered pictorial boards, gilt lettering to spine. Black endpapers. 8vo.  Cloth is a little worn, gently pushed at spine ends, a little rubbed and rounded on corners with some mild marks on rear panel.  Text block edges darkened.  Gift inscription, dated 1918, inked on the dedication page, and spotting on first and last few pages, affecting the first tissue guard and title page quite heavily else internally neat and clean.  The volume is quite loose, with the front hinge broken and backstrip coming away from text block, some loosening pages and one plate detached.  All plates present as called for. Margaret Collier's Prince Peerless is ground-breaking fantastic literature, a collection of fairy tales charting cultural encounters between children, young adults and mythical beasts.  Beautifully illustrated by her younger brother,  John Collier, the popular pre-Raphaelite artist.  Very hard to find.  This copy complete and suitable for restoration.